How Maple Grove, Osseo Climbed the Football Rankings

The glow of postseason brackets can make it easy to overlook just how different those brackets would look if they had been set before the season started.

Preseason favorites like Minnetonka and Wayzata stumbled in key games while scrappy teams like Maple Grove and Rosemount fought their way up the rankings. Other big finishers, like Osseo, weren’t even in the mix when the season started. In all, 16 teams were ranked in the top 10 at some point during the season.

(Then again, there’s also Eden Prairie, who launched the season in No. 1 and stayed there as it blew past every contender to come along.)

• See the graph above for a look at how the Metro Top 10 rankings changed over the course of the season. Download the PDF to view it in full size.
  

For undefeated Maple Grove, it was all about steady, consistent performances. The Crimson began with a respectable No. 8 ranking but kicked off the season with a 41-0 trouncing of Robbinsdale Armstrong, one of three games where Maple Grove scored at least 40 points. Hopkins, whom Maple Grove beat 23-14, was the only team able to hold stay within two touchdowns.

Osseo, on the other hand, was all about beating expectations. The Orioles opened some eyes early on when the unranked team stayed within a field goal of then-No. 4 Minnetonka in a tough 31-28 loss. But the Orioles rebounded with a 56-10 victory over Blaine. They further proved their dominance in three 40-plus-point games. 

The season finished with a 28-14 victory over Totino-Grace—which was ranked seventh at the time and finished the season at ninth.

If the rankings teach us anything, though, it’s that these positions aren’t set in stone. Osseo and Maple Grove will make the case for why they’re the best when postseason play begins this week.

The Crimson begin the section 5AAAAAA tournament at 7 p.m. Friday at home against Anoka, the tournament’s No. 8 seed. The Orioles enter the section 5AAAAAA seeded second in the tournament. They’ll begin by playing No. 7 seed Champlin Park at 7 p.m. Friday.

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End-of-Season Metro Top 10 Rankings

1. Eden Prairie
2. Maple Grove
3. Rosemount
4. East Ridge
5. Osseo
6. Prior Lake
7. Wayzata
8. Roseville
9. Totino-Grace
10. Chaska

SOURCE: Minneapolis Star Tribune